Comparative behaviour of ‘conventional’ and ‘pre-engineered’ industrial structures with diagonal bracings considering smaller and larger openings

Pre-engineered buildings (PEB) have become a prevalent solution, offering optimized steel consumption compared to conventional steel buildings (CSB). This optimization leads to cost reduction and shorter project durations while maintaining lateral stability, even in earthquake-prone areas. In this paper, a study on comparative behavior of CSB and PEB is carried out by analyzing them using Staad Pro software considering wind speed of 55 m/sec, seismic zone V and medium soil. The analysis of CSB and PEB is performed considering the provision of diagonal bracings for smaller (< 20%) and larger openings (> 20%). The size of the structure is considered as 80 m × 30 m × 9 m (upto eave’s level). The analysis results obtained for the responses viz., displacement, base shear and support reactions are compared. Additionally, the overall weight of the structures is also determined. The results of the study indicate that displacement, base shear and support reactions for CSB and PEB for larger openings increases by an average value of 20.53%, 17.08% and 8.43% respectively when compared to the values of CSB and PEB for smaller openings. Further, an average reduction by 7.01% occurs in the overall weight of the PEB with smaller and larger openings when compared over the weight of CSB with smaller and larger openings. The authors conclude that, the consideration of larger openings in the analysis of PEB leads to the reduction in overall weight, however the percentage reduction is lesser as compared to the PEB with smaller openings for higher values of wind speed and seismic zone.